Bimetal Cu and Fe modified g-C3N4 sheets grown on carbon skeleton for efficient and selective photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to CO

Abstract

Excessive consumption of fossil fuels leads to resource shortages and the greenhouse effect. In order to solve these problems, the conversion of CO2 to fuel using photocatalytic technology has attracted extensive attention. In this work, Cu and Fe bimetallic modified g-C3N4 sheets grown on carbonized pomelo peels (Cu/Fe-CNC) for photocatalytic reduction CO2 to CO were synthesized via chemical vapor co-deposition (CVD) method. The modification by Cu and Fe bimetallic has enhanced the transfer and separation efficiency of charge carrier and increased surface reaction sites, thereby significantly enhancing the CO yield. Compared with the bulk g-C3N4, the reduction yield of CO2 to CO is increased by 3 times and compared with C3N4 grown on carbonized pomelo peel (CNC), it increased by 2 times. And Cu/Fe-CNC can achieve 100 % reduction of CO2 to CO in the photocatalytic system. Furthermore, the Cu/Fe-CNC has excellent stability in 5 cycle experiments. This work, from a new perspective, assists in developing high active g-C3N4-based photocatalysts to achieve the efficient and selective CO2 to CO reduction.